Screen and storm door lock



E. F. SHAFFER 2,714,814

SCREEN AND STORM DOOR LOCK Aug. 9, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 29, 1953 INVENTOR. EL WUUD FEHA F A T TORNEY Aug. 9, 1955 E. F. SHAFFER 2,714,814

SCREEN AND STORM DOOR LOCK Filed Jan. 29, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Lisgg F IN V EN TOR.

EL VVUUD F. EHAl-FEH ATTflRNEY Aug. 9, 1955 E. F. SHAFFER SCREEN AND STORM DOOR LOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 29, 1953 INVENTOR. EL WUUD F EHAFFER ATTORNEY United States Patent l SCREEN AND STORM DOOR LOCK Elwood F. Shaffer, Reading, Pa., assignor to Earle Hardware Manufacturing Company, Reading, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application January 29, 1953, Serial No. 333,905

1 Claim. (Cl. 70-146) My invention relates to a spring bolt latch and lock construction which is particularly adaptable for use in screen or storm doors.

Screen and storm doors are generally provided with a spring bolt latch which can be turned either by an outside knob or an inside handle lever (or knob). Generally no locking means are provided. In some instances a locking piece is mounted adjacent the inside lever to prevent turning of the outside knob thereby locking the latch bolt in the keeper. An outstanding disadvantage of such construction is that a housewife, after locking the door from the inside for security, must make frequent trips to open the door while in the midst of household duties when members of the family wish to enter.

Attempts have been made to provide separate locks on the outside of screen doors but they have not been successful or generally adopted commercially because of the complicated parts involved for incorporating such locking feature which make screen or storm door sets far too expensive An object of the present invention is to provide a novel combination screen and storm door set or lock which is devoid of the-above named disadvantage of complicated parts, and which enables not only locking of the door from the inside but permits unlocking from the outside by use of a key in the outside knob, therefore enabling the housewife to lock the screen or storm door from the inside to prevent entry of unauthorized persons and yet allow a husband or other members of the family to enter the house by means of a key and without disturbing the housewife involved in household duties.

A further object of my invention is to provide a novel screen and storm door lock which is constructed of relatively simple and inexpensive parts which are contained within a single unit which necessitates nothing more than boring of two holes in the door at right angles to each other for installation of the complete unit, thus making installation extremely simple even to unskilled persons.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide, in a screen or storm door set, a novel spring bolt latch assembly containing two operating members, one nested within the other, which are selectively operable, either by a key inserted in the outside knob when the door is locked, or by turning of the spindle from either the outside knob or inside lever (or knob) when the door is unlocked from the inside.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is an edge view of a door portion having mounted thereon a combination screen and storm door lock or assembly embodying the principles of my invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal horizontal section through 2,714,8 l4 Patented Aug. 9, 1955 the latch housing wherein the interior parts are shown mostly in plan view.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section through the latch bolts illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical section through the latch housing showingv the interior parts in plan and in the bolt-retracted position as operated by turning of the key.

Figure 5 is a similar view but showing some of the interior parts in cross-section and showing the latch bolt retracted by turning of the spindle either by the outside or inside knob (or lever).

Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the latch operating element or spindle together with a secondary or cylinder spindle pivotally mounted therein for turning movement about the longitudinal axis of the operating member, a portion of the latter shown broken away.

Figure 7 is a plan view of an outside escutcheon plate and assembly showing the thumb operated lever 33 in the unlocked position and,

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 but showing the thumb operated lever in the spindle-locking position.

Referring more particularly to Figure 1 of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a fragmentary portion of the door as viewed from the edge or side adjacent the keeper (not shown). For installation of the combination screen and storm door lock assembly shown it is necessary merely to bore a cylindrical hole horizontally through the edge of the door into which a cylindrical housing 2 of the latch bolt unit is closely fitted, and to bore another horizontal cylindrical hole at right angles thereto through which the knob operated spindle extends.

Inside the cylindrical housing 2 there is slidably mounted a latch bolt 3 having a bevelled strike as shown more clearly in Figure 2. Housing 2 is open at one end and provided with an outwardly turned annular lip portion 2a serving as a stop against the edge of the door and has a closed end 2b. The housing is also provided with registering circular openings on opposite sides thereof through which an operating element or spindle 20 is extended.

The latch bolt generally comprises two telescoping parts adapted for relative longitudinal movement. The first part is integrally formed with the latch bolt 3 and comprises a hollow cylindrical extension 4 of smaller diameter than the latch bolt and having diametrically opposed, outwardly extending guide ears or lugs 5 which are guided for longitudinal movement within diametrically opposed rectangular slots 7 formed in the second part of the latch bolt construction. The second part 6 of the latch bolt is preferably of sheet metal made from a single blank and turned into cylindrical form, having an intermediate integral ear or lug 8 turned in at right angles to close the inner end of a cylinder and to provide an abutment against which one end of the helical spring 9 of light strength engages. The other end of spring 9 is received and held Within a well portion formed in the latch bolt 3. The second part of the latch bolt also includes two longitudinal extensions 10 on opposite sides thereof which terminate in an integral cylindrical strip 11 which snugly encircles the circular perimeter of a cam element 12. The cam element is provided with an annular groove 13 and a stem 14 of smaller diameter. By forming indentations 15 in cylindrical strip 11 it will be firmly secured to the cam element so as to rotate in unison therewith as one element. The cam element 12 is provided with upper and lower sides substantially at right angles to each other and each substantially at an angle of degrees to the horizontal. A helical spring 16 having one end seated in the closed end 2b of housing 2 normally biases cam element 12 to the left as viewed in Figures 2 and 3. Spring 16 is stronger than spring 9.

Operating element or spindle 20 extends through circular openings extending transversely of housing 2 and has an intermediate trough shaped portion 21 of V-shaped crosssection best shown in Figure 3 forming a trough whose edges are adapted to engage cam 12 upon operation of the rotating element in either direction so as to move the cam to the right thereby compressing the spring 16 as shown more clearly in Figure 51 As cam element 12 is so moved to the. right it carries with it the second part of the latch bolt assembly 6 and, by virtue of the guided connection between ears 5 and rectangular slots 7, will move the latch bolt 3 to the right asshown in Figure 5.

A2 i o ta t ieatu o t n i ai s-: i h provision of a secondary or cylinder spindleelement 22 wh h i m u ed for Part a rqta gna m m ahgut the longitudinal axis of the operating element or spindle 2 Sp ndl elemen 22.1 a q h U- h q 29 69 9 pi o a x r mi 3 9f hi r n and seated within a substantially semi circular bore formed insp d el a ,o end of th wis e .Q Ex ity f th L -shap d P r n te m na i a sp ndl t a portion 24 which extends through a cylindrical bore formed in a portion .of spindle 2'0 and terminates in a Pi e hich is ada ted to fit i ,dhmetda srq .2

formed in cylinder plug or lock 27.

As shown more clearly in Figure 1, .spindle 20 may be turned by an outside door knob 25 of conventional con t uc io enci s ed by nfiscut h n p at 6. Kn

25 has mounted in the interior thereof a cylinder plug or lock 27 together with ,a locking pin assembly 29 of well known type and operated by alkey 30 that is adapted to project into the outside knob. Upon turning key 39 cylinder plug 27 and stem portion 24 also turns thereby rotating the secondary or cylinder spindle element 22 within the trough formed in portion 2,1 of the main spindle 20i position as shown in Figure 8, thereby making it impossible to unlatch the door by turning the outside knob 25. Therefore in order to unlateh the door from the outside, key 30 must be used which effects rotation of cylinder lock 27 and the secondary or spindle element 22 within the trough shaped portion 21 of the main spindle 20, as shown more clearly in Figure {1, thereby the outside or intermediate part of the U-shaped portion thereof engages one of the cam surfaces of cam 12 so as to move cam 12 to the as shown in Figure 4, and unlatching the door. Thus the door may be unlatched either by rotation of an unlocked spindle, or by turning of a key in the outside knob ofa locked spindle to enable authorized persons to enter without disturbing the occupant or housewife engaged in household duties.

The key 30 may be identical to the key for the main door therefore not necessitating the carrying of an addi- Thus it will be seen that I have provided an eflicient combination screen and storm door'set or lOck assemBIy which is made of relatively simple and few part s which are inexpensive to manufacture which can be quickly and easily installed by the mere boring of two horizontal holes in the door at right anglespand which set is in the On the opposite face of the doorthere is mounted an inside han dleor lever knob 31 for turning spindle 20.

An escutcheon plate 32 and a bl is :prbyided ifgr locking ,the spindle against rotation. The locking assembly includes .a thumb lever 33 having integrally secured thereto ,a spindle locking plate 3,4 provided with ,a re tangular slot 35, which slot is adapted to be moved into close fitting engagement with the spindle for locking it against rotation. Plate 34 is provided with a cam surface 3 6.engageable .against a leaf spring 37 so as to have .a togglerlike spring action for resiliently holding the locking plate selectively either in the unlocked position as shown in Figure 7 or in the spindle lockingIposition ,as hown in Figure8by the-mere turning of thumb lever 33..

-In operation, the latch bolt 3 is normally biased Outwardly asshown in Figures 2 and 3 by the relatively weak spring 9 which :yields without movingthe second J part6 or compressing the stronger spring '16 whenengaged by-a keeper of the door.

When thumb lever33 is moved to the unlocked position as shownin Figure 7 the main spindle or operating member 20 may befreely turned either by turning the outside door;kno b 25 or the inside door knob or lever 31. Turning of spindle 2.0 will cause the trough shaped intermediate portion 21 to turn and to engage either of the cam surfaces of-Cam 1-2 depending on the direction of rotation ofthe spindle sons to move the cam to the right as viewed in Figure 5, thereby compressingspring16 and moving both parts of the latch bolt along with it to unlatch the door.

However when it is desired to lockthe door from the inside, thumb lever 33 is moved to the spindle-locking form of a single assembly; furthermore -I have provided a door lock which is particularly adaptable for either screen or storm doors or both and which includes the safety ,feature providedby locking the spindle on the inside but at the same time enabling an authorized person with a key'to unlock the spindle from the outside by inserting a key in the outside knob.

While I-have illustrated and described a certain, specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustration only, and that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

A lock assembly particularly adaptable to screen and storm doors, comprising anoutside knob containing a cylinder lock therein and operable by inserting a key in the lock, an inside handle, and a main spindle operable by turning of said-knob or of said inside handle, locking means adjacent said inside handle for locking said spindle against rotation, a latch bolt having a diametrical opening through which said spindle extends and having a substantially "-V-shaped cam seated in a correspondingly shaped intermediate trough portion of said spindle so as to efiect'longitudinal movement of the bolt by rotation of the spindle in either direction, and a secondary spindle having a :rounded free end pivotally mounted at saidfree end for rotation in a socket portion ofsaid spindle at oneend of said trough portion so that said secondary spindle will rotate about substantially the same longitudinal axis as said main spindle, said secondary spindle having radially outwardly offset cam operating port-ion confronting said trough shaped portion and having a stem extending through a longitudinal bore in an end portion of said main spindle engaging with said cylinder lock, whereby upon locking of said main spindle by said inside loo-king meansthe secondary spindle maybe freely rotated to engage .said camland .efiect .unlatching :by the turning of .a vkeywithinsaid outside knob.

Hillgren Mar. 13, 1951 Clark Oct. 7, 1952 afia 

